Student Life · December, 2009
Happy Holidays! Enjoy Your Break!
Village School Dance Party
Dance! Dance! Dance! Village School was overwhelmed with dance fever on Friday night. The girls had a great time at the dance, sponsored by the 6th graders to support the 8th grade Bridge Building project. The 5th, 6th and 7th graders ate, danced, and competed in the rock star contest. A great time was had by all who attended and many requests were made for another dance very soon. Get your dancing shoes ready!
Click on the picture above to watch a video from the dance.
To Fly!
The theme for this school year’s upcoming interdisciplinary days is flight. Over the three days we dedicate to this theme, students will study multiple aspects of human flight and aeronautics. One facet of this study will include building, decorating, and flying rubber-band-powered model airplanes. The planes, called “Super Delta Darts,” are built using small strips of balsa wood covered with tissue paper and have a wingspan of approximately 20 inches. If carefully built and properly adjusted, the Super Delta Dart is capable of flight times in the neighborhood of 60 seconds. Last Thursday, a small group of teachers and students built prototypes of the planes as an after-school project. Prior to building 74 planes in one day, we wanted to discover (and work through) any challenges involved with this project! Three planes were successfully built–but limited indoor space made test flights a bit of a challenge. Thus, next up will be learning how to adjust the wings of the plane to maximize flight time.
Click on the picture above to view more photos of making the test planes.
Big Sister/Little Sister Lunch Downtown
Every Friday, the eighth grade girls are given the privilege of having lunch on the downtown mall. The girls may eat at one of four restaurants, and often they also go get ice cream. Some of their time is simply spent strolling up and down the mall. Twice a year they treat their little sisters. What a special tradition!
Click on the picture above to watch a video of the 8th and 5th graders having lunch together.
Village School Holiday Craft Fair
On Saturday, December 5, the sixth graders sponsored the 9th Annual Village School Holiday Craft Fair. Girls from all grades sold sweets, bags, scarves, jewelry, dolls, and all sorts of other hand-crafted items. Twenty percent of the proceeds from the 5th, 7th, and 8th grade sales was donated to Operation Smile, a charity that is dedicated to healing cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities. The gift totaled $700. Twenty percent (about $160) of the 6th grade proceeds went toward their class fund. What an enjoyable day of crafts and community.
Click on the picture above to see more photos from the craft fair.
School Trip to the American Shakespeare Center
The trip to Staunton was really fun, and everyone had a good time. We all had first period class, and then we all got ready to leave. When we got there, it was pouring rain. Some kids and parents took a shortcut through the Stonewall Jackson Hotel. It was really nice. The play was really good. They sang and danced to some modern songs, such as “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” by Cyndi Lauper. After the show, we went to the Mockingbird Café. It was a very nice restaurant, and we even met some of the actors from the show there. One of the actors did a little dance for some passing eighth graders. –Marta Rampini, 6th Grade
Click on the picture above to see more photos from the trip to the American Shakespeare Center.
2009 Roller Coaster Fair
For the first quarter in Math Lab the girls worked on building roller coasters. The requirements were that the roller coaster must have at least one hill and one inversion (loop). Everything else was left to their imaginations. The roller coasters were built out of a variety of materials including plastic bottles, cardboard, and foam insulation. The roller coasters were designed to carry a small marble the length of the track and come to a stop without breaking a one ply piece of toilet paper. When the project was complete, we invited their parents to come enjoy their final products at the 2009 Roller Coaster Fair. The girls came up with some really great ideas, as evidenced by the video.
Click on the picture above to see a video from the Roller Coaster Fair.
Click on the picture above to see more photos from the Roller Coaster Fair.